Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Silver Earring Walkthrough -- Part 1 of 5 -- Sir Bromsby's Speech at Sherringford Hall

2010-01-28

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Starting Day One at 221B Baker Street

Frogwares developed a successful formula when they produced their first Sherlock Holmes adventure game. The Agatha Christie games may have come out first, but Sherlock Holmes has a larger following than Hercule Poirot. The mystery of the Silver Earring marked Sherlock Holmes’s debut in a modern video game. Now, if only the thing thing could be said for his appearance in a modern movie.

The Mystery of the Silver Earring starts, as all Sherlock Holmes stories and games do, at 221B Baker Street. Watson sits in his chair reading his paper. He shares any interesting articles he reads with Holmes. Watson then picks up a letter from the table. Lord Cavendish-Smith, a prominent member of the British parliament wants Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson to attend a retirement party for Sir Bromsby. Cavendish-Smith mentions something about an opera singer whom he does not trust. You can forget the Lord and the opera singer. They play no other role in the game.

Watch another cut scene in the room where the party for Sir Bromsby is being held. Watson asks his longtime companion if he knows anything about the gentleman for whom the party is being held. You get to see a bit of Holmes’s brilliant deduction ability at work as he gives you a details description of Sir Bromsby’s personal life.

Listen to Bromsby’s speech. You do not get a choice about this. The speech will be cut short as a gunshot rings out in the building. When the gunshot rings out, you will be given control of Holmes and you must use his skills to solve the case.

Mystery of the Silver Earring Controls

Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Silver Earring is a third person point and click adventure game. The graphics are less impressive than those used in the Awakened or Jack the Ripper. The graphics do not detract from the game, but the graphics do not add to its atmosphere either.

The Ballroom

You can use the mouse or the keyboard to move around. Start the investigation by talking to the people in the ballroom. The doctor provides important clues about Sir Bromsby’s death and aboutthe entry wound. A white cloth sits on the ballroom table. Pick up the cloth to get a set of dirty white clothes.

Talk to the Colonel and the man sweeping the floor. The Colonel chooses not to be helpful at this time, but the janitor gives you clues about where to go next. Head over to the nearby door. Check the handle. Holmes notes that someone has used this particular door in the recent past. This indicates that next area to investigate.

The Hallway

The hallway smells strongly of gunpowder. Look for the black mark near the door and at the footprints. Use the magnifying glass and the tape measure on eachitem. The footprint was made by a person wearing a size 8 shoe, and the powder burn is 15 centimeters in height. Write down this information as you will need to refer to it much later in the game.

The Kitchen

Mystery of the Silver Earring – Holmes Fairfax

Go back into the ballroom and go through the other door. Talk to everyone in this room. The cook in the room complains about the current French chef and his odd ideas about table cloths. Look at the table cloth in the room. The area of the cloth near the door contains an interesting button. Pick the button up and fint out that it is a low quality reproduction of the type used on a military uniform. You will also find a dustbin that Holmes remarks is fiendishly heavy. Walk through the door at the end of this room.

The Second Hallway

Mystery of the Silver Earring Holmes wheelbarrow

Look at the door before you enter the hallway. Grease covers its handle for some reason. Turn around and look at the tables that seem to litter the corridors in this building. Take out Sherlock’s magnifying glass and look underneath the table. Get the powder tin you find here.

The door on the left side of the hall is not important right now. The painting provide somes interesting color, but offers nothing important to the game. Go to the end of the hallway and examine the ladies’ handbag. Open it. Take the passport, travel tickets and a revolver outside from the handbag. This revolve is a piece of damning evidence seems to point to Sir Bromsby’s wife. The white powder near the handbag can help you confirm or deny this. Pick up the white powder for later analysis. You might be able to find powders that match this one in the next room.

The Smoking Room

The smoking room is not large. Pick up some flaky ash from the ashtray. The remains of a cigar rest in the ash tray. The flaky ashes do not seem to have come from the cigar.

The door in this room leads to a small bathroom. Check near the sink and find a pair of moustache trimmer. Get the raid hair from the trimmer. You can search around this room for additional clues, but you do not find any.

The Ladies’ Dressing Room

Enter the dressing room. Go to the table immediately. Pick up the picture on the table. If you do not it up, you can go onto the next section, but you will need it later in the game. Examine the mark on the table. Holmes gets to demonstrate his prowess with chemistry. Take out your test tubes, which seem to come from nowhere. Open your inventory and compare the mark on the table to the white ash in your inventory.

An open book lays on an end table near the sofa. The book is elementary French text. A calling card, also in French holds the reader’s page. Pick up the card and place it in your notebook. The card will be translated into English and you can now read it. Go back into the hallway and enter the door to the northwest. The door stands before the stairwell. Examine the handle. Holmes tells Watson that there is another grease spot on the door that mimics the one found earlier.

The Maid in the Stairwell

Mystery of the Silver Earring – Lamp Fairfax

Holmes and Watson encounter a maid busily scrubbing a spot on the stairs. Talk to her. She tells you that she was not there when here employer was, but the servant you found sweeping earlier once. She also mentions that she only touched the dustbin once. The conversation you had in the kitchen says that the dustbin had also been touched only once. The maid tells you that Scott brought her the news of Sir Bromsby’s death.

Sherlock Holmes in the Dining Room

The Dining room contains Lavinia, Lieutenant Herrington, and Hermann Grimble. The young military officer defends the honor of Sir Bromsby’s daughter. Lavinia is reluctant to speak to you. talk to Grimble until the conversation ends.

Check the table for clues. Find a piece of paper there and put it in your notebook. The game turns it into the guest list. You are done in this room. Go into the ballroom again.

The Day’s Final Visit to the Ballroom

You must talk to Colonel Patterson and Lavinia. Colonel Patterson will answer your questions, but Lavinia will not. Holmes nudges Watson in the correct direction. Select the gun from your inventory and show it to her. Lavinia’s hysterical fit is not exceptionally helpful, but she does give you additional cluses.

If you have done everything the game experts you to do, Holmes will wonder where Doctor Watson has gone. You go to the front lawn.

Doctor Watson in the Hall

Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Siver Earring - Martyfairfax1

This portion of the game does not require you to find many clues. Watson and Lambert will almost get into a fight. You must have Watson convince Mr. Lambert of who Watson is. He will take you to the next section, were you must get the information from the servants, including a Mrs. Lambert.

When Holmes rejoins the Doctor, you need to go to the area where Lambs stands guard. Click on the cigarette butt on the floor. The letters Chirr are written on the but. Look at the footprint here. Use the magnifying glass and the tape measure. The person who made the footprint wore size seven shoes.

Back at Baker Street

You are almost done with the first day. Watson and Holmes must each perform some activities that will help determine the height of the shooter. Start by reading a book on ballistics. The ballistic books lets you know that by adding 15 centimeters to the height of a powder burn, you can get the height of the shooter. The second book gives you an article about tobacco. You find out that Chirr is probably short for Chirriqui. Chirriqui is the name of a Brazilian tobacco producer. The ballistics article lets you know the person who shot Bromsby is approximately 5 foot 9 inches in height.

Holmes must do analysis on the clues he has collected. Start the analysis with the dirty cloth in your inventory. It needs to be cleaned before you can do anything else with it. Place the bowl of water on your burner and add some green soap into it. Put the cloth in the bowl until you clean it.

Take the cloth out of the dish. The process of cleaning the dirty rag had no affect on the water. Pick it up and put it on the burner again. Pick up a blue liquid and place it in the water. Click on the burner. Put the water on the burner and then place the cloth in the water.

The cloth came from an army officer’s uniform. The stains on the piece of paper are sticky, but not oily.

Take the black powder and put it in a dish. Use a match on the powder. It does not burn because it is burnt gunpowder. There are three samples of white powder in your inventory. The astute detective should wonder if they are the same type of powder.

Open your inventory and use the magnifying glass on the white powder samples. The results are inconclusive. Place the powder samples under a microscope and find out that they are all the same. Mix the powders together. Trying to burn the powder does nothing, but if you put it in the water and heat it, it creates a paste. Holmes tells Watson that the substance is rice powder.

Save the game and get ready for a quiz.

Sherlock Holmes’s Quiz

The answers each come with a justification. They are listed in bulleted format for convenience.

1 Yes – Colonel Patterson Conversation

2 No – Conversation with Mary

3 No – Cigarette butt in red frame, study of tobacco in green frame

4 No – Conversation with Satterhwhaite

5 No – Conversation Mrs. Lambert, Conversation with Colonel Patterson

6 Yes – powder smudge in the red frame, the ballistics article in the green frame

7 Yes – Conversation with Mrs. Lambert

Resources

Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of tthe Silver Earring

Gameboomers.com

Personal Experience

This post is part of the series: Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Silver Earring Walkthough

Help the world’s greatest detective solve the murder of Lord Bromsby and locate 4 silver earrings that serve as keys to the most important clues.